The Council of Trent

The Vatican Secret Archives preserve the original documentation of the great Council of Trent, which took place in various stages and in different places between 1545 and 1563.

Summoned by Paul III on 22^nd May 1542 with the Bull Initio nostri huius pontificati, the Council began in Trent on 13^nd December 1545, where the participants were almost all ecclesiastics (4 cardinals, 4 archbishops, 21 bishops, the generals of the Orders of the Augustinians, the Carmelites and the Servants of Mary, as well as the two Franciscan Orders, 42 theologians and 8 jurists). In conformity with the Lutheran requests, the Council was held far from Rome, but its members were Italians and «papal». Hence the many disputes between Catholics and Lutherans, alternately governed by Charles V and the Roman Pontiffs, with the aim to obtain from the Council a major representation of the states of the empire and in particular of the German area. As everyone knows, in March 1547, the Council moved to Bologna, according to the will of the papal legates (Cervini, Pole, Del Monte) and in the city of the State of the Church, the assizes continued their work (with a group of dissidents, led by Cardinal Pedro Pacheco, who remained in Trent) with only two sessions, but dreading the imperial reactions (since Charles V was totally against the transfer to Bologna), and only dealt with theological subjects and did not publish its decrees. In 1548, through his orators, the emperor formally protested against the Pope for transferring the Council, and on 1^st February 1548 Paul III took upon himself the decision of the Council, while some of the «imperial» bishops continued to remain in Trent.

Julius III, who succeeded Paul III on 7^th February 1550, with the Bull Cum ad tollenda of 14th November 1550, ordered the return of the Council to Trent and fixed the reopening date for the 1^st May 1551 (but the works actually started only in September). However, the assembly was interrupted once again in April 1552 due to riots in the city stirred up by Maurice of Saxony against the emperor (Trent was no longer a free and safe place for the fathers, because it was too close to Germany). In the meantime, between 1552 and 1554, Julius was thinking of publishing and implementing some of the reformatory decrees. As a matter of fact relevant subjects had already been discussed: the formalities to be followed when celebrating the Council, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan symbol, the education of the clergy, preaching, justification, grace, the doctrine of the sacraments of the Eucharist, repentance, the Extreme Unction and marriage. But then the Pope died (23^rd March 1555) and this project was never fulfilled.

The successor of Julius III, Marcello Cervini, who called himself Marcello II (9^th April – 1^st May 1555), lived too little to have the chance to restart the Council; neither Paul IV (23^rd May 1555 – 18^th August 1559) had the chance nor the will to restart the Council, thinking that the problems of the Reform could be resolved with a commission to be gathered in Rome.

Only Pius IV (26^th December 1559 – 9^th December 1565) succeeded in summoning again the Council in Trent, with the Bull Ad Ecclesiae regimen of 29^th November 1560, that will then become known as its third and last stage (1561-1563). The Cardinals Ercole Gonzaga and Giacomo Puteo (who due to his illness never took up his office) were sent to the Council as legates and, shortly after, also Gerolamo Seripando, Stanislao Hosio, Ludovico Simonetta and finally Marco Sittich von Hohenems. Practically speaking, the Council sessions resumed in December 1562 and they continued, with many ups and downs, until 3^rd December 1563, the day the decrees on Purgatory, indulgences and the cult of the saints were enacted. The fulfilment of the Council began with the confirmation of all the decrees, with no exceptions, made by Pius IV with the Bull Benedictus Deus of 26^th January 1564.

Everyone knows in what way and how much the decrees of the Council of Trent influenced the life and the very structure of the Catholic Church up to the last Vatican Ecumenical Council II.

The fond Concilio Tridentino of the Secret Archives (formerly Armadi LXII, LXIII) consists of 156 pieces (nearly all consisting of volumes), thoroughly studied and to a great extent published in the renowned edition by Görres Gesellschaft (Concilium Tridentinum. Diariorum, Actorum, Epistularum, Tractatuum nova collectio, Friburgi Br., Herder, 1901, etc.).

The entire documentation of this fond is very important and equally precious. Some of the rarest «documents» that deserve to be mentioned are: a volume of original letters, carrying an autographic signature, which St. Carlo Borromeo addressed to various Council Fathers between 9^th February and 30^th November 1563 (Conc. Trid. 27 e 68); the original diary of the Council secretary, Angelo Massarelli (1510-1566), who recorded what happened every day during the meetings (Conc. Trid. 91); the numerous registers of the Acta conciliari; the original letters of several princes for the accreditation of their representatives to the Council and much more.